Watching for Lily
by BookWorm77071
Summary: Lily's seventeenth birthday dinner, in which her mates all give her presents. But which one will take the cake? Written for Jily Week on Tumblr.


**A/N: Hello! This is my submission for the "birthday" prompt for Jily Week on Tumblr. This fic is dedicated to an anon known as _T, _s/he left me a very sweet review. I hope you like this, T!**

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January 30, 1976

Lily's eyes darted around the Great Hall, her cheeks burning. Where were you supposed to look when your friends sang you the birthday song, anyway?

"Blow out the candles," said Sirius in a sing-song voice.

"Make a wish first!" said Peter.

Lily closed her eyes. _I wish... I wish for... that jumper I saw in the catalog Mum brought home during the winter hols. _It was her birthday. She was allowed to be selfish, wasn't she?

Her friends clapped as she blew out the candles on the cake Charlotte and Sirius had gotten from the kitchens.

"Good job, Lily," said Anna Fawcett enthusiastically.

"Thanks, Anna."

"Come on, Evans, cut the cake!" said James.

Lily turned to him. "I don't know," she said, not smiling. "It looks too pretty to cut... don't you think, Remus?"

Remus grinned. "Far too lovely."

"You're absolutely right," chimed in Olivia.

"That's not funny," James said. "I know you're trying to be funny, but you're not."

"Funny?" sadi Lily. "No, I 'm dead serious."

"He seems plenty alive to- ow!"

Remus chucked a goblet at James' head and everyone else groaned. "Sirius jokes, James? On my birthday?" Lily asked.

"Oh, you know you love it."

"Open your presents, Lily," said Peter, changning the subject before they all got into a very old, very repeated argument. "Here, this one is from me and Sirius." He handed her a parcel wrapped in brown paper.

"Oh, you shouldn't have," Lily said, touched.

"'Course we had to."

"Not because we like you or anything. Because we want you to buy us presents for our birthdays."

Lily laughed and opened the gift. "Oh... Sirius, Peter... this is so nice!" It was a framed picture of the three of them laughing. Lily couldn't remember when or where the picture was taken, but it looked like September of that year, judging by their clothes. Lily-in-the-photo tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled at Lily-in-real-life. Her friends waved at her and she waved back. "Thank you!" Lily hugged Sirius and Peter from across the table.

"This is from your mum and dad, Lily," said Anna, handing her a purple-and-white striped bag.

"She sent it ages ago," added Bridget. "We've been hiding it for weeks."

Lily peeked in the bag. "It's the jumper!" She pulled out a bright red cardigan with gold trim. "Gryffindor colours, see?"

Sirius and Charlotte clapped. "Way to go, Evans."

Lily took off her robes and put it on. "I'm never taking it off," she declared.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Her, Lily," she said. "We all chipped in and got this for you." She handed her a square that seemed to be made up of bits of wrapping paper in all different colours.

"We did it the Muggle way, see, Lily? For you!"

"For me?" she said, catching Remus' eye and grinning.

She tore of the million pieces of paper (making quite a mess) and pulled out a beautiful green set of dress robes.

"Oh... you lot are the best!" Lily hugged all her friends. "This was so sweet of you!"

"Don't mention it, Lily."

"You can mention it a little," said Charlotte.

Lily laughed. "I love you all."

"You're okay," Sirius said.

"Cut the cake now, Lily," said James. "This is urgent."

James certainly looked as though something was wrong. His face was red and he kept looking over his shoulder.

Lily opened her mouth. "Are you-"

"You lot!" cried Hestia Jones, dashing over to the Gryffindor table. "You'll never believe it-Amelia Bones is going at Thomas Reed and Paula Hobday by the lake! I think she's going to curse them in!"

Lily watched her friends all leap up and race with Hestia outside, knocking over some second-years in their wake. "Bye!" she called after them. She chuckled to herself. She wanted to see Amelia curse Thomas and Paula as much as the next witch, but she was a Prefect. If she saw it happening, she'd have to stop it, and Lily honestly thought that those two deserved whatever Amelia threw at them.

"James!" she said, realising he hadn't left the table and was still sitting next to her.

"Hi," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "Erm-listen, Lily. I... wanted to give you something."

"James," said Lily, surprised. "You did. These robes are lovely."

"No," he said, going even more red. "It's... something else." James pulled a small, black box out of his pocket. "I... here." He handed it to her.

Lily took it, feeling very curious. It was bigger than a ring-box, but smaller than a necklace-box. She opened it and gasped to herself.

"James..."

Inside was a silver wrist-watch, with small diamonds going down the middle. The timepiece itself was a rectangle with a white background, and a gem where the twelve should be.

"James," she said again.

"It's tradition, see," James said hurriedly. "Wizarding tradition. When someone turns seventeen, they get a watch, because they're of age now, and they're in charge of their own time. Which is obviously not true for you, yet. I mean, not because you're a child. I don't think you're a child! I just mean, because you're still at school. We're both at school. There are rules and curfews, so neither of us is in charge of our own time. I mean, obviously not me, because I'm still six-"

Lily kissed him on his cheek. He went even more red, but fell silent.

"Thank you," she said softly. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She knew about this tradition and was touched that James had thought of her. She was a Muggle-born and her parents certainly didn't know. They were convinced Lily was still a minor until next year.

They were quiet for a moment. "Shall I- put it on you, then?"

Lily nodded and stretched out her hand. James took the watch and unlatched it, slipping it onto her wrist. He closed it, not letting go of her.

"I'm glad you like it," he said.

It then hit Lily that he had no idea. He had not the slightest clue what it meant to her that a Pureblood was going out of his way to include her in wizarding tradition, in wizarding life, and never would. He only did it because he was kind. Lily swallowed. "I love it."

He smiled briefly. He seemed so nervous. He dropped her hand and cleared his throat.

"So-they're all gone. You don't have to cut the cake, then. We can just use two forks."

Lily laughed for what felt like the umpteenth time that evening. "Good idea."

It was her best birthday by far. For once, Lily didn't care that another year had gone by without a note from her sister. She was just going to enjoy her cake with James.

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**A/N: Reviews would be wonderful, if you could spare a minute!**


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